A secular Advent. waiting for Christmas in Swedish preschools

Puskás, Tünde; Andersson, Anita

doi:10.1080/01416200.2022.2035678

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Different values, ways of communicating and language barriers between a child's home and preschool have been shown to make it difficult for children to feel a sense of belonging [26,67]. As pointed out earlier, in the increasingly secular Nordic societal contexts, religious Lutheran worldviews often become "othered" alongside "other" religions, and the societal hegemony retains its particular power structures [3,41,42,68]. This, and the other discursive challenges outlined above, have far-reaching consequences for the preschool as a social community and its ability to provide all children with a sense of belonging.…”

Section: Children's Well-being and Sense Of Belonging As Key Aspects ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Caring for Worldviews in Early Childhood Education: Theoretical and Analytical Tool for Socially Sustainable Communities of Care

2022

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Societies of today are becoming increasingly pluralistic. This applies also to the diversity of values and worldviews in Swedish early childhood education and care (ECEC). Still, in the increasingly secular contexts, societal hegemony often fails to include children’s home religions and worldviews in the actions and understandings aiming towards inclusiveness. We argue that it is of critical importance to also include the plurality of worldviews in the educational perception of “the whole child” in the care and education taking place in ECEC. The purpose of this article is to connect the discussions in the fields of intercultural and interreligious education, in particular those dealing with the diversity of religions and worldviews, to discussions on care and social sustainability in ECEC. The UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development promotes inclusive and equitable education, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child states children’s right to freedom of religion and a concern for the spiritual, moral, and social development. Our previous findings have illustrated the importance of religions and worldviews in the intercultural work within early childhood education, both empirically and conceptually, and as part of the moral core of teaching. This article employs feminist and postcolonial ethics of care as a theoretical lens in elaborating on the three key notions: social sustainability, care, and worldviews. Several discursive challenges that ECEC teachers in Sweden face in their work, to enhance social sustainability by supporting the child’s well-being and sense of belonging in the ECEC, have been outlined. To conclude, we bring forth a theoretical and analytical tool for the understanding, researching, and planning of socially sustainable communities of care.

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Section: Children's Well-being and Sense Of Belonging As Key Aspects ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Caring for Worldviews in Early Childhood Education: Theoretical and Analytical Tool for Socially Sustainable Communities of Care

2022

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“…Studies of tradition and religion in Swedish preschools demonstrate that the traditions that are practiced in connection to the public holidays represent both continuity and change (Puskás and Andersson 2019;Reimers 2019). Observations of everyday preschool practice Andersson 2021, 2022;Reimers 2019) and interviews with preschool practitioners (Puskás 2022;Reimers 2019) show that the preschools observe traditions with Lutheran Christian roots (Christmas, Easter) or connotations (Lucia), even if the content of the celebrations is changing. In addition, new traditions are inserted into the repertoire of culturally significant practices.…”

Section: Enculturation and Religion In Nordic Preschoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday nationalism in Swedish preschools: something old, something new and something borrowed

Reimers

Puskás

2022

Children's Geographies

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This paper explores everyday nationalism in relation to work with traditions in Swedish preschools, as well as how preschool teachers reflect on these practices. One of the tasks of the Swedish preschools is to transmit and develop a cultural heritage. In Sweden, 95% of children aged 3-5 attend preschool. Approximately one fourth have a foreign background. Moreover, preschool children encounter very different cultural realities depending on where their preschool is located. Sweden is a secular as well as multi-religious country. This makes the cultural heritage that the preschools are supposed to transmit ambiguous and complex. Based on a survey where preschool practitioners answered questions about what traditions they pay attention to and what content they fill these traditions with, the article maps which traditions preschool practitioners actualize in their preschool practices. The data is analyzed and discussed in relation to everyday nationalism and the pedagogy of nation. The results show that the everyday nationalism of Swedish preschools both consolidates and challenges the traditions generally considered as being rooted in Swedish history. At the same time, many preschools integrate new traditions into their repertoire that represent societal changes, both in terms of cultural globalization and in terms of the traditions of religious minorities gaining greater visibility.

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“…Detailed supplementary provisions for kindergartens' contents and tasks are articulated in The Framework Plan. Related to children's need for care, the plan demands that staff ensure that all children find "belongingness" in kindergarten [11] (p. 7,19,20). Religious and cultural diversity is addressed in several parts of the document.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the Nordic countries, the role of religion and culture is articulated differently in national policy documents [9,10,17]. Nevertheless, several studies from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland all show that Christmas has a central place in kindergartens [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. A common denominator across the Nordic countries is a tendency among staff to emphasize a secular framing of the holiday.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identification, Silence, Separation, and Imagination: Children’s Navigations of Christmas in a Religiously Diverse Norwegian Kindergarten

Iversen

2023

Education Sciences

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Christmas plays an important role in kindergartens in all the Nordic countries. While for many, Christmas is a time for belonging, for others it is a time for withdrawal or longing. This article applies ethnographic data to examine how staff and children manage Christmas in the context of a religiously diverse Norwegian kindergarten. Describing how Christmas dominates the kindergarten from late November and through December, I analyze how this affects children’s practices, narratives, and opportunities to belong. Building on Yuval-Davies’ concept of the politics of belonging, I develop a typology of four interrelated ways of navigation: identification, silence, separation, and imagination. This typology illuminates how children may be affected by the politics of belonging, but also how their agency and creativity lead to different ways of navigation, influencing processes of belonging. By providing a child-centered perspective on belonging, this article provides an empirically based contribution to discussions about inclusivity relating to religious and cultural diversity in ECEC.

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A secular Advent. waiting for Christmas in Swedish preschools

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Caring for Worldviews in Early Childhood Education: Theoretical and Analytical Tool for Socially Sustainable Communities of Care

Caring for Worldviews in Early Childhood Education: Theoretical and Analytical Tool for Socially Sustainable Communities of Care

Everyday nationalism in Swedish preschools: something old, something new and something borrowed

Identification, Silence, Separation, and Imagination: Children’s Navigations of Christmas in a Religiously Diverse Norwegian Kindergarten

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